Leah Feiger: At times, it’s possible to trace it back to specific corporations-
Vittoria Elliott: Indeed.
Leah Feiger: Engaged in the development of generative AI technology.
Vittoria Elliott: Exactly. For example, a deep fake video was created of the former Prime Minister of Pakistan, Imran Khan, who had faced corruption charges and had his party disqualified from the recent general election. He utilized generative AI to deliver campaign speeches.
Leah Feiger: Remarkable.
Vittoria Elliott: To achieve this, ElevenLabs was employed, the same company previously involved in creating a fake Joe Biden robocall. While some companies are publicly stating their commitment to ethical practices for the upcoming elections, such as Midjourney, ChatGPT, OpenAI, Google, etc., promising to prohibit the generation of political imagery, there are challenges in effectively enforcing these policies. The Center for Countering Digital Hate released a report back in March revealing how images could easily be generated using these tools, even upon request for specific political figures like Trump and Biden. Notably, a chatbot named Dean.bot was developed using OpenAI’s ChatGPT platform by Congressman Dean Phillips, which remained operational until media attention raised concerns about policy violations.
Leah Feiger: Former Presidential candidate, Congressman Dean Phillips.
Vittoria Elliott: In fact, there seemed to be some ambiguity in the support for Dean Phillips, despite the disapproval of Dean.bot. Silicon Valley backers maintained their support for him. This ambivalence was evident in the discourse surrounding generative AI and the advocacy for regulatory measures, with figures like Sam Altman expressing interest.
Vittoria Elliott: Additionally, in Indonesia, there was a company that developed an app named Pemilu designed for the Indonesian elections. The app’s founder alleged that they leveraged ChatGPT to create a feature allowing the composition of campaign speeches in various local languages.
Leah Feiger: Impressive.
Vittoria Elliott: This enabled tailored messaging for specific demographics, including youth and women, in a country where linguistic diversity is abundant.
Leah Feiger: Especially impactful in a country with diverse languages.
Vittoria Elliott: Certainly, with regions spread across islands, each with distinct requirements.